ChristieÆs Folks Used Power Politically! Has Maryland Done That?

The ability to “reward friends and punish enemies” has been the expected result of winning political elections for President, Governor, Mayor, etc. since the creation of the democratic process of selecting executives. A “wise” executive will utilize that power in a manner that encourages enemies to change their future decision making (when it comes to supporting that executive in the future) and shows friends the benefits of making the right call in the first place.

As a State Senator, I advanced the above political principle by “immediately and thoroughly” responding to supporters, businesses and individuals, when requests for my assistance came into the office. On the other hand, I responded “ALMOST immediately and SOMEWHAT thoroughly” to those non-supporters when they sought my help. I NEVER DENIED THEM ASSISTANCE! It was just very obvious to a 3rd grader that I could have been more expeditious and complete in my service to them. If I did not support people that were elected Governor, Mayor, etc. I expected the same treatment. To the victor goes the ……!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s administration, according to emails and text messages, engaged in a very “aggressive” form of punishing enemies by using the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to severely restrict, allow only one lane, traffic access from Fort Lee, N.J. to the George Washington Bridge for 4 days in September of 2013 because the Fort Lee Mayor, Mark Sokolich, didn’t support Christie for re-election. Christie has accepted responsibility, apologized (in person) to the Mayor and citizens of Fort Lee, and fired his Deputy Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager; with more possibly to come.

This act was vindictive, petty, beneath the Governor’s office, and LESS long lasting and impactful than political vendettas carried out in our FREE STATE; Maryland.

In 2002 Maryland Governor Parris Glendening and his Redistricting Commission produced a Legislative Redistricting map (they last for a decade not 4 days) that targeted my district and a few other Senators that were not in favor with the Guv. After we sued the Guv, the highest court in Maryland, The Court of Appeals, ruled for the 1st time in it’s history that Maryland’s Legislative map was so GERRYMANDERED (big word for drawn illegally considering the previous decade’s population gains and losses) that the court threw it out and redrew it themselves; restoring my Senate district and some of the others. If the court had not ruled, hundreds of thousands of Marylanders would have been denied “fair” representation for the next decade. Want some more?

In May of 2006 the late Baltimore City Councilman Kenneth Harris sent a letter to the Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD) asking questions about the arrest policy of the Police after Harris had received numerous complaints from constituents about, what they felt, were unjust arrests (Since then the BCPD reached an out of court with the ACLU, Baltimore City NAACP and others for almost $1 million for unjust arrests). In a June 5, 2006 response letter then BCPD Deputy Commissioner Marcus Brown, now Superintendent of Maryland State Police, (longtime friend of then Mayor and Governor Martin O’Malley) wrote “several of your fellow city council members have contacted me this week to say that if you did not want police to enforce quality of life crimes in your district, they would be glad to have the added enforcement in theirs”. In their June 7th Editorial, the Washington Examiner asked the question, “Is that a threat? It sure sounds like one”.

Remember, “punish your enemies” or just threaten to punish to your enemies!

Finally, and I could recount more, after Democratic Governor O’Malley was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2010 (similar to Christie’s re-election win) parts of the Guv’s “Plan Maryland” were implemented. In a 2011 Washington Post article written by Aaron Davis, former Republican State Senator E.J. Pipkin said that O’Malley had declared “War on Rural (Republican mostly) Maryland” with this Plan Maryland “thing” that put bans on increased septic tanks, a Chesapeake Bay cleanup proposal that independent analysts said would cost Rural Maryland billions of dollars in the future and costs thousands of jobs, and the Gov. invoked a 1974 law (not used by previous Democratic Governors) that allowed the state to withhold state funds if local governments didn’t make strong efforts to reduce sprawl. All this cause they didn’t vote the RIGHT way!

Whether it’s Christie, O’Malley, Glendening or any other elected executive that oversees political vendettas, it is “unwise” to punish political opponents with the levers of government in ways that are nakedly partisan or obviously vindictive as to bring into question the ethics, morality, or integrity of the executive. Once an “executive” brings that type of dishonor to the office it can not be recaptured; unless the executive is contrite, apologetic and acts decisively and responsibly in order to restore public trust.

Now I ask you, of the examples that I have cited which “executive” has tried to employ tactics that, at the very least, attempt to seek some form of public redemption?